This Week, on Brynhildr in the Darkness Episode 8

1.1) Finally the plot looks like it’s about to kick up again in a big way. Like, episode 3 kinda way. But anticipation as lead me down a lot of false roads with this show before, so I’ll try not to get to optimistic.

1.2) Watching Brynhildr has a risk of whiplash. It has as scene that does nothing to develope the story or characters, followed by something like this. It’s still only a fraction of what Elfen Lied delivered in it’s first episode, but it’s pretty cool no the less. Obviously Neko’s powers have been developing over time (albeit completely of screen and getting no attention), so hopefully the writers intend to use them in more battle scenes. Unfortunately, the animation doesn’t step up to compliment the action, and what we’re left with is two opposing parties standing still and staring at each other.

1.3) “If you guys hadn’t save me […] I’d be dead.” Well, at least it’s a step up from “People die if they are killed!”

2) Past:

2.1) The Clue That was Left: Alright, so the title alludes to a bit of the past that interacts with the present. Maybe that’ll lead somewhere thematically, since memories and past are pretty much the thematic base of the show.

Thanks Subtitles. Translating German into German for me.

3) Witch Harem:

3.1) Why? Just why? I’m struggling for something to say about the show, then it gives me something I can’t ignore. If Brynhildr is really set on going down this road, fine. I’ll examine it as a harem anime, and as such, it sucks.

3.2) We have 4 potential romantic partners. One (Kana) seems like the creepiest of creepy fetishes, another (Kotori) has no character, the third (Kazumi) has inconsistent character, and finally Neko has just been a childhood-friend-tease since episode 1, and anything interesting about her romantically has been trotted around so much that its legs have fallen off.

3.3) Annnnnd now she’s asking him to massage her boobs. Can I just turn this off now? If this is the kind of stuff the show sold itself on, I couldn’t criticize it for now being like this. But The first three episodes were plot and character oriented, since then it’s changed. Anyone coming in wanting an interesting dark story now feels lied to, and anyone who would have watched for the fan service likely dropped this show long ago. Consistency is important.

Final thoughts: And thus end another disappointing episode. There was some more background plot stuff that I didn’t mention because I’m not yet convinced it means much. The show hasn’t delivered on one promise yet, and if plans on keeping it’s hand back right up to the end, I won’t be interested enough to stick around until then. But next week is episode 9, and it seems only every third episode gives me what I want from Brynhildr. That that remains true, I’ll stick around for a little longer. But if next week (or a couple days from now) is as empty and frustrating as the last hour was, I’ll be dropping Brynhildr.